8:00 AM ET The NBA playoffs are less than a month away and both conferences feature seeding races that are sure to come down to the wire. Several top teams are missing key players who could return in time for the playoffs and help their teams’ postseason hopes. The No. 5 Chicago Bulls and No.
NBA
3:04 AM ET LOS ANGELES — As competitive as the LeBron James-less Lakers looked in Wednesday’s 126-121 loss to the Philadelphia 76ers, the defeat only raised the stakes for their next game on the schedule, on the road Sunday against the New Orleans Pelicans. L.A. is currently No. 9 in the Western Conference standings with
12:40 AM ET ESPN News Services MIAMI — Jimmy Butler and Udonis Haslem were shouting at each other, fingers were pointed in various directions, some Miami players were trying to play peacemaker and Heat coach Erik Spoelstra slammed a clipboard to the floor in frustration. And that wasn’t the evening’s low point for the Heat.
6:05 PM ET Adrian Wojnarowski Close Senior NBA Insider Host of The Woj Pod Joined ESPN in 2017 Jeff Passan Close ESPN ESPN MLB insiderAuthor of “The Arm: Inside the Billion-Dollar Mystery of the Most Valuable Commodity in Sports” The progress toward further changes to New York City’s private-sector vaccine mandate has inspired confidence that
3:22 PM ET Kendra AndrewsESPN MIAMI — The Golden State Warriors are resting Draymond Green, Klay Thompson and Otto Porter Jr. on Wednesday against the Miami Heat, the second night of a back-to-back. The move isn’t necessarily out of character for the Warriors — they’ve been resting Thompson and Porter on one end of back-to-back
3:48 PM ET LOS ANGELES — LeBron James has been ruled out of Wednesday night’s game against the Philadelphia 76ers because of soreness in his left knee, the Los Angeles Lakers announced. The Lakers’ next game isn’t until Sunday at New Orleans, giving James a six-day stretch to rest his ailing knee. It will be
2:50 PM ET Denver Nuggets coach Michael Malone has agreed to a multiyear contract extension with the team, it was announced Wednesday. Terms were not released. Malone, who had the 2022-2023 season remaining on his deal, will now be tied to the franchise through what it hopes will be a window of championship contention over
8:00 AM ET Tim MacMahon Close ESPN Staff Writer Joined ESPNDallas.com in September 2009 Covers the Dallas Cowboys and Dallas Mavericks Appears regularly on ESPN Dallas 103.3 FM Kevin Pelton Close ESPN Senior Writer Co-author, Pro Basketball Prospectus series Formerly a consultant with the Indiana Pacers Developed WARP rating and SCHOENE system For a guy
8:00 AM ET Andrew LopezESPN WHEN HE WAKES up in the morning, Josh Hart is greeted by a smiling family. Every morning he opens his eyes and looks at the wall in his bedroom, where he sees a wedding photo and a picture of a newborn baby. Except it isn’t from his wedding. And it
11:43 PM ET Kendra AndrewsESPN ORLANDO, Fla. — When Stephen Curry went down with a left foot sprain last Wednesday, the Golden State Warriors knew they had a difficult final stretch to the regular season. They expected some bumps in the road — their entire system is built around Curry. Warriors coach Steve Kerr said
10:04 PM ET Andrew LopezESPN New Orleans Pelicans forward Zion Williamson has tried to keep a low profile on social media while rehabbing his fractured right foot that has kept him out the entire 2021-22 season. That changed on Tuesday night. Williamson posted a 5-second clip to his Instagram story showing him at the Pelicans’
6:36 PM ET All-Star point guard Ja Morant has been ruled out of Wednesday’s game against the Brooklyn Nets due to right knee soreness, the Memphis Grizzlies announced. It will be the second consecutive game Morant misses because of his sore right knee. He also sat out a win over the Indiana Pacers last week
7:15 PM ET Associated Press NEW YORK — Knicks forward Julius Randle was penalized $40,000 by the NBA on Tuesday for directing hostile language at a referee, bringing his total to $130,000 in fines this season. The latest fine came for his actions at the end of New York’s 108-93 loss to Utah on Sunday.
6:01 PM ET Associated Press NEW YORK — The NBA fined Golden State Warriors forward Draymond Green $25,000 on Tuesday for directing profane language toward a game official. Green was ejected in the third quarter of the Warriors’ game against the San Antonio Spurs on Sunday night after getting called for two technical fouls in
2:43 PM ET Associated Press NEW YORK — The NBA fined Jusuf Nurkic of the Portland Trail Blazers $40,000 on Tuesday for confronting a fan at a game in Indiana and throwing the person’s cellphone. The incident happened shortly after the game Sunday between the Blazers and the Pacers. Nurkic approached the fan, walked within
3:14 PM ET Associated Press NEW YORK — The NBA has fined Minnesota Timberwolves guard Patrick Beverley $20,000 and Milwaukee Bucks guard George Hill $15,000 for their roles in an on-court altercation during a matchup between the teams over the weekend. The league announced the fines Tuesday. The incident happened with 2:11 left in the
12:44 PM ET NEW YORK — New York City mayor Eric Adams reiterated that while he remains optimistic about the COVID-related numbers he’s seeing, the city’s professional sports teams are going to have to wait their turn as far as potential vaccination-mandate rollbacks are concerned. “Right now, we’re going to take some complaints,” Adams said
8:00 AM ET As the NBA’s 2021-22 regular season draws to a conclusion on April 10, teams near the middle of the standings are battling for postseason seeding with a special focus on the league’s play-in tournament. Held before the first round of the 2022 NBA playoffs, the play-in tournament adds an exciting wrinkle to